Use the “so what?” test to make sure your content hits on the points your customers care about most.

One of the fundamentals of sales is to focus on benefits instead of features. The classic analogy is that of the drill:

People don’t buy drills to own a drill, they buy them to make holes.

The drill – its fast motor, comfortable handle, and sharp bits – are all product features. In and of themselves, they don’t really have any value.

The benefit is that the drill gives you the ability to make holes in things.

But imagine a person who doesn’t really get why they need to drill holes. If you say to this guy “buy this drill because it makes it easy to drill holes”, he’s going to say “so what”.

You need to take it a step further. He needs to picture himself quickly getting that shelf up – which makes his wife happy and frees up their time. Now owning a drill results in the benefit of an enjoyable weekend.

Getting at the benefits your customers truly care about involves an extra step most businesses don’t take.

Say, for...

Franchise website redesigns can seem like a daunting task.

After all, it is a lot to take on. There are typically multiple stakeholders (each with their own design preferences), folders full of brand assets, and the pressure to create a website solution that caters to individual franchisees and the brand as a whole. At Websites 360®, we've helped many multi-location businesses own their web presence and have created eye-catching, functional franchisee website templates that can grow as franchisees expand.

Whether you're starting completely from scratch or looking to overhaul your existing franchisee website structure, there are a few key items to keep in mind. Read on to see the top considerations for a successful Franchise website redesign and tips for how to prepare for the redesign process.

What are the benefits of owning a franchise? When starting a franchise, business owners can run a business that already has an established template for success. They have the power of a strong, established brand, a pre-delivered set of tools to start their business, as well as the peace of mind that comes with a corporate team that is there to help.

The franchise formula has been proven to work. However, many franchises struggle with creating and maintaining the online presence of their locations. Some franchises have one website that has little input from the individual franchisees. Others do not have guidelines for creating websites, which leaves franchisees on their own to build a website that may not work as well as it should. By utilizing a franchise website builder, both franchise owners and franchisees can utilize a website that strikes a balance between brand consistency and individuality.

Your website has an important job: communicate your brand’s message and get users to convert. How you define a conversion might differ; you might classify a conversion as a direct purchase, or by a user clicking through to another page.

No matter what your ultimate marketing goal is, you want to do everything in your power to make sure your website is doing its job effectively. Have you considered adding video content to help drive conversions? If not, then read on.

Video is not only changing the way websites are built, but also how users interact with websites, browse, convert, and more. The number of people watching videos online only continues to grow. In fact, video is predicted to make up approximately 80 percent of all global traffic by the end of 2019. More people are interacting with brands that create video content consistently, and many consumers now expect to learn about products or services through a brand video. Forty-three percent of consumers...

Google Analytics is a helpful way to understand how your website is performing online. It is often intimidating to log into Analytic and see tons of buttons, tabs, charts, and numbers. We’ve narrowed down some of the most basic, yet important metrics for you to look at to get an idea of how your site is working.

Once you have set up Google Analytics on your website, you can log in by visiting analytics.google.com. Use your Gmail or G Suite email address and password. In this guide, we will go over four reports: Audience, Acquisition, Behavior, and Conversions. Once you’re in, you will navigate between each report through a column that’s located on the left-hand side of the screen.

When it comes to attracting online customers you want to start with an attractive website that is fast, secure, and optimized for search engines. However, that is only the foundation for a successful internet presence. Outside of your website, there is a whole network of third-party local listing sites and directories which provide information about your business.

These third-party directory sites are beneficial because they display your business information at no cost to you. However, this information may be incorrect or misleading, and some websites may not realize your business exists at all. In fact, the information on these sites can directly influence your business’ exposure in the search results! Do you know how your business is listed on the internet? To ensure that you are making the most out of these business listings, it is important that you practice NAP consistency and take control of your information.

If you want your business to have a strong digital footprint, then you want to make sure that you are making the most out of your Google My Business listing. One step you can take to optimize your listing is by taking advantage of Google’s attributes to describe your business.

Websites 360®'s website solution offers user-friendly tools that make it easy to manage image libraries and image blocks. Websites 360® has released a number of performance enhancements, dynamic image capabilities, and opportunities for SEO improvement so that users can easily build and customize their website.

Make the most out of local profiles

If your website is for a business, then you should make sure to have profiles on major local listing sites. At the very least, having listings on major aggregate sites like Google My Business, Yelp, and Facebook, are essential. These local profiles are important because they provide space for users to leave reviews. These websites also have a very high domain authority, so they appear prominently in search engine result pages. You should also create local profiles on industry-specific sites, like Angie’s List for home services or The Knot for wedding-related venues or services.

Of all the local aggregate sites, Google My Business is likely the most important. The information on your Google My Business listing displays in Google’s “local 3-pack” in the search results and on the map listings. If you want your business to have a strong online footprint, then you should make the most out of these listings by adding posts,...